>> Wednesday, November 28, 2012

So I'm almost 26 weeks and I thought it might be a good idea to start thinking about some practical things that go along with bringing another baby into our house like where is this kid going to sleep? We live in a two bedroom apartment in the city. And even if we had a bigger place, I like the idea of kids sharing bedrooms when they are little. Joanna Goddard actually wrote a post on the topic earlier this week and there is some very interesting feedback in the comment section.

My concern lies not so much with the new baby, I should be better at sleep training for round two right?? but with the little person who already lives here. Despite his many awesome qualities, he has never been a stellar sleeper. So in my head (and prayers) I want him to stay in his crib until he's 4. Just kidding, but I would love for him to stay in his crib long enough to get him used to sleeping through the new baby's 2 am feeding cries. And once that boy is out of his crib I have no doubt I will find him at 3 am in the living room playing choo-choos.

So far there have been no attempts at climbing out. Although I have him enrolled in this gymnastics type class that I have a feeling may be teaching him tricks that will come back to haunt me. But, I would love to know, how long did your toddler stay in their crib?

And there is a second question to this post for anyone who has owned a mini crib. How long did your infant sleep in a mini crib?

Here is my master plan, feedback welcome:

From day one I want to put the new baby in a crib. I let Remi sleep in a swing (first time parent survival mode, don't judge) for the first three months of his life. As you can imagine, the transition to a stationary surface was a little rough and probably set me up for sleep failure from the beginning. So I'm thinking of moving one of our nightstands into storage and replacing it with a mini crib. I hated climbing over a pack n play with Remi. I've got about 40" on the right side, it would fit perfectly.

But after the teeth marks appeared overnight on my first nugget's crib, I swore I would never buy a super fancy crib. So what I really want is this Baby Mod crib from Walmart. It looks exactly the same and is less than $200. Unfortunately, it seems like it will never be back in stock.

Somewhere between two and three months I would like to roll the new baby in with his older brother and start room sharing boot camp, which I am already getting coaching on from my friend Ashley. Kind of like natural childbirth, which I made no attempt at, I feel like you have to be fully committed and mentally prepared for room sharing at these ages. But Ashley is my Douala, I'm going to do it!

What do y'all think? What is your experience? It's not going to be another 10 months without a full nights sleep right!?.....right!???

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comments:

I kept my kids in their cribs as long as possible. When they started crawling out, I made some sleep sacks so they couldn't. And when they figured out how to get those off, I put them on them inside out and backwards so they stayed in even longer. :)

We're in the same boat! I plan on keeping C in her crib til as long as possible.. so we just got a cheap lookalike one from Target (agree with you on not spending as much $$ as before!) it fits right next to C's crib in the nursery (with a good 20" between them. But I'll use the rock'n'play sleeper again as a bassinet while I'm breastfeeding Baby #2 (C was in it for 6.5 months and she slept awesome!! no joke)Good luck, and I'm so obsessed with your headboard.. someday I will attempt to copy it ;)

my twins shared a crib, then upgraded to their own.they shared a room since birth and then off to college and shared a room with respective room mates at different colleges.now they have their own rooms at nearly 20 years old in feb. they loved their cribs and playing games, climbing into each other's cribs. they slept in their crib until we moved into this house. they were 3 1/2. then they had mattresses on the floor because they would roll over and fall out of bed.I can still hear that "thump" in the middle of the night. :)pve

Our first walked at 9 months and was in a "big girl bed" at 12 months. The second was in a toddler bed by the time her brother came along, 17 months later. The third and fourth were both around 18 months as well.

Sometimes they just won't stay in the crib. Out oldest daughter was climbing out at 11 months. I was worried she would hurt herself and finally put her in a big bed. (This was before the days of a toddler bed.) They loved crawling in bed with Mom & Dad, but we kept getting up and putting them back in their beds. It seems like it will never end, but, trust me, it will and you'll have a nice night's sleep again (in about 3-5 years)! One day (like me, now) you'll be missing those days! Now I have to drag them out of bed when they are all home from college!!

My 19 month old slept in a baby recliner for 3 months and transferred to a crib with no problem for long periods. Think it all depends on the kid. He's still in a crib and I'm going to keep with it for now. I feel like when he can get out he will be emptying every drawer and basket in the room!!

I love those cribs...in those colors...how wonderful! I would never give advice on the sleep thing...the eating thing...I probably did everything wrong...or at least according to some books out there, but mine are 13 and 18 and turning out pretty great...so far. loved your "thankful" post too!

Knox is just over 2 and I'm totally NOT kidding when I say I will keep him in the crib until he's 4. He's made no attempt to get out of it and while he's a phenomenal sleeper, I know that if he could get out (like in a bed) he'd be up all the time and naps would be 1/2 as long. I saw try the mini crib in your room for as long as you can!

Call me crazy (or call me 26 weeks preg also), but I'm going to be attempting putting my 18 month old into a twin bed. However, she will be in her own room at first. Our pediatrician recommended starting out with a baby gate at the door of her room so she knows she can't freely roam around the house. I'm a little nervous because she is a wonderful sleeper, but she takes fantastic naps at her day care on her mat, and I do not want to buy another crib. Also, I am probably superstitious about doing the exact same sleep method with #2 sleeping-wise, since #1 slept through the night pretty early. Keep us updated!

I just found your blog through Haus and Home.... I moved my first daughter out of her crib at 20months because she was climbing out and her sister was due 2 months later and would need the crib anyway. She climbed out of bed for about two weeks and tried to get out of her room. I'd hold the door closed (as if it were locked) until she cried herself to sleep at the doorway. It was rough, but she learned to stay in her bed. With my second, when she climbed out of her crib, I stuck her back in (for about two weeks, too) and punished her if she got out. She learned she had to stay in her crib. Either way it was training... as is falling asleep by ourselves.... this parenting thing isn't for the weak. I hate the training part, but it's worth it in the end. Good luck! (the biggest thing i've learned is there's no wrong answer as long as you're consistent!)

I loved the book baby wise and all the advise it had on sleep schedules. it worked like a charm and all 3 of mine & they were all sleeping thru the night by 3 mo. Our kids were out of their cribs between 20mo. and 3 because the next kid needed it. no one tried to "escape" their beds really, but i put a baby gate on the outside of the door so on one wandered out and tumbled down the stairs. i echo that every kid (and family) is different. best of luck!

Hi there, I'm a long time reader but first time commenter. This topic is near and dear to my heart, so I wanted to weigh in.

I live in an urban area in a 2-bedroom apartment with a 2.5 year old and a 5-month old. I waffled on whether to move my older son to a big boy bed, but ultimately to keep him "locked up" for as long as possible!

Having two small children has been major chaos and I am glad that amidst all the change over the last 5 months I have not had to deal with trying to coral my 2 year old back into bed in the middle of the night and during naps. I have seen many friends make the move prematurely and are paying for it dearly. If your son isn't climbing out I would leave him be. And if he does start to climb I personally would try to discipline him back into bed before moving him to a bed. Of course you know your child so I'm sure you have some sense of whether that type of discipling would work, but that's where I personally would start. I hope for your sake that your older son is willing to just stay put - the nighttime waking around here have been a tough pill to swallow and it would have been so much harder if it were both kids waking in the middle of the night.

As far as a mini crib, I don't have any experience. We initially used a co-sleeper but I imagine a mini-crib is a bit bigger??? I would say that the issue with a small crib may be those awkward months (4-6 months) when they start moving around a bit in the bed but aren't coordinated enough to get themselves out of a bind. We moved the baby out of the co-sleeper about 3 weeks ago because he would either find himself sort of at the bottom of it and then his feet were scrunched up and it seemed to be waking him. And some nights when he turned sideways he ended up with his feet over the side and again that seemed to lead to more nighttime wakings. I was resisting a full sized crib because we have so little room in our master bedroom and are hoping to move to a 3-bedroom apartment soon but I finally broke down and got the crib. After a couple days of confusion his sleep got better.

As far as sharing a room goes....ugh I just don't know when we'll get there. We're sleep training the baby right now but he is still up quite a bit around 5am and makes a lot of noise. My friends who have done the early room sharing spent months running into the room to grab their babies and move them into a pack and play in their master bedrooms before any of the noise woke the toddler. As a result their second kids are used to a lot of nighttime intervention from mom and dad and are crappy sleepers.

I hope you know, I don't mean to scare you! Like I said, I live in an urban area too and my friends and I spend WAY too much time on play dates talking about this topic! Good luck whatever you decide and I just hope that this baby is a chill, heavy sleeper who has some very good natural sleeping tendencies - that will help start you off on the right foot for sure!

Hello friend! I am behind on the blog and just read this post! As your doula, I assure you, you can do the room share thing. My kids love sleeping in the same room and although it may take a bit to work out the kinks, it is totally worth it! I love you, girl!

I agree. Each child is different. Each family needs different things. Our kiddo was a terrible sleeper despite reading and trying every single book listed in the comments and then some. When she was 15 months old, in total desperation one night, I climbed in the crib with her and fell asleep. When I woke up my whole body hurt. I told my mom, dang that mattress is really hard. She said, meh kids have been sleeping in them for ever. Long story short, against all good advice we finally got a twin pillow top. And you will never guess when my kids started sleeping through the night? Yeah, the next night. at 22 months. We gate the door. and every now and then we get a 4am summons from the gate. We just lead her back tuck her in and we are out of there in 3 min or less. So basically Im trying to reassure you that there is no wrong answer.

I agree. Each child is different. Each family needs different things. Our kiddo was a terrible sleeper despite reading and trying every single book listed in the comments and then some. When she was 15 months old, in total desperation one night, I climbed in the crib with her and fell asleep. When I woke up my whole body hurt. I told my mom, dang that mattress is really hard. She said, meh kids have been sleeping in them for ever. Long story short, against all good advice we finally got a twin pillow top. And you will never guess when my kids started sleeping through the night? Yeah, the next night. at 22 months. We gate the door. and every now and then we get a 4am summons from the gate. We just lead her back tuck her in and we are out of there in 3 min or less. So basically Im trying to reassure you that there is no wrong answer.

I moved my kids from cribs between 2 - 2 1/2 yrs old. I really didn't have many problems. My kids were great sleepers already. For thetransition from crib to bed I just put the bed where the crib was to keep the view the same. I followed the same bedtime routine, and the transition was a snap. The funny thing is, sometimes toddlers will still wake up calling "Mooooom", even when in a bed. I don't think they realize right away that they can just get out of bed and find me! My boys share a room, and have since the youngest was born. Some ups and downs, but kids are resilient and learn to adjust pretty well!